Friends with Benefits
by LostinOblivion
Summary: A short story set before the pilot, based on a challenge. Rating for suggestive language.


_This is one of a series of five stories based on a challenge by SnailQueen on the Fox messageboards, asking for stories about Matt and Emily before the pilot. This story was my first time doing a challenge, and being that I just rounded off this little miniseries, I decided to post them here. I'm going to post one or two a day as I edited them. Thanks for reading, and reviews are always appreciated!_

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Matt was tapping his pen and flipping through pages in a case file, searching for a ballistics report and counting the minutes until work was over. Occasionally he'd sneak a glance at Emily, who gave the impression of stark concentration, but really wasn't even looking at the words on the page in front of her. Over the past three weeks, they'd spent about half those nights together, including one weekend.

They'd gone through great pains to convince each other, and more importantly, themselves, that this was solely about sex. There was nothing except sex between them, no feelings, no questions, no awkwardness in the morning, just simple, uncomplicated sex. However the fact that they couldn't concentrate on their work would suggest otherwise. They of course chose to ignore this, and continue pretending that it meant nothing to them.

Since the first time they'd touched three weeks ago, it had been hot and heavy, only cooling the slightest bit now. Which is why Matt was nearly jumping out of his skin and Emily was pretending to read. Normally it wasn't this bad, either because they out negotiating, training, or Emily was off teaching, proving the out of site out of mind almost worked.

"Jesus, it's five thirty, and this will all wait until tomorrow. You want to call it quits?" Matt suddenly asked, stretching and yawning.

"Sounds good," she leaned closer to him, speaking low, "Are you coming over tonight?"

"Hmmm, I was hoping you'd come to my place tonight. My overnight bag is out of clothes," he whispered.

"Good thing I haven't had to use mine yet then," She commented seductively.

"Hey guys, Cheryl beeped me…do we have a case?" Frank suddenly showed up in the nearly deserted CNU office, causing the pair to jump apart nervously.

"Uh, she hasn't said anything to us yet." Matt stuttered out, running a hand through his thick black hair.

"That's strange…are you two okay?" He asked them, seeing their nervous behavior.

"Yeah, we were just eager to get out of here, not really looking forward to a negotiation tonight." Emily covered quickly, not really lying.

"You have a hot date tonight Lehman?" Frank teased.

"What if I do?" She shot back.

"Ooooh…whose the guy? Does he know what you do?" Frank was immediately interested.

"You don't know him, and yes he does, and he doesn't care."

"You slept with him yet?" Frank grinned, clearly enjoying himself.

Emily thought for a minute before giving him a wicked grin, "Many times."

Of course this caused poor Matt to nearly choke on his tongue.

"Lehman! I had you pegged as a good girl, no banging on the first date!" He exclaimed.

"Full of surprises Frank." She answered with mild sarcasm.

"So it seems, what exactly does this guy have that makes you so eager?" His smile told her that he was still enjoying his line of questioning. Meanwhile Matt was trying his best to ignore the discussion about Emily's sex life, hoping not to reveal his part in it.

"I don't know…the opposite of you?" She'd could enjoy this just as much as him.

"Ouch, you wound me!" He put both his hands over his heart, mocking her, before turning to Matt, "What about you Flannery?"

Once again Matt nearly swallowed his tongue, did Frank just ask if Matt was Emily's type? "What's that?"

"You gotta hot date too?" He said it as if it were an obvious question.

Matt sat there for a very uncomfortable minute, trying to figure out how to answer that question. He was thankfully, saved by Cheryl popping out of her office.

"We've got a situation out by Hollywood. Sorry to steal your nights." She told them, handing out briefs as she spoke.

"The only one you're disappointing is Lehman; she was supposed to get laid tonight." Frank told Cheryl, nearly causing both Emily and Matt to fall off their chairs.

"Oh?" Cheryl looked blankly at the group, she didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"Yeah, did you know she has sex on the first date?" He was clearly enjoying teasing Emily.

"I never confirmed that." She bit at him, while simultaneously rolling her eyes.

"You never denied it either." He said still smiling at her.

"Shut up Frank." Matt said, beginning to get annoyed.

"Relax Flannery, you act like she's your girlfriend. She's your partner you don't have to protect her virtue." Frank taunted him.

"I'm not trying to protect her virtue, I'm trying to protect you from a harassment law suit." Matt spit back at him, avoiding tripping over Frank's reference to Emily as his girlfriend by a sheer miracle.

"Alright, alright guys, time to drop it. We have work to do, let's go." She led them out of the office, Frank beside her already discussing the case, Matt and Emily hanging back momentarily to gather their things.

"Well that was fun." Emily commented sarcastically as she grabbed her briefcase.

"That was close." Matt reminded her.

"Yeah it was, and so were we." She said, alluding to their almost rendezvous at his apartment.

"Damn HTs always did have the best timing." He flung his jacket on, and placed a hand on her back guiding her out.

"You never know, maybe we'll get tomorrow off…" She bit her lip and grinned alluringly at him, letting him fill in the end of her thought.

"Damn this better go quick." He mumbled as they got into the elevator.


End file.
